Improvement in beer-coolers



W. KLINEPELTER; I Beer-Cooler.-

No. 212,951. Patented Mar. 4 1879.

NJPETERS; PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER. WAsmNGTqN. D. C

UNITED s'rn'rns PATENT @Fnrca.

WILLIAM KLINEFELTER, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEER-COOLERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,951, dated March 4, 1879; application filcd August 14, 1878.

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, WILLIAM KLINEFEL- TER, of Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Coolers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My improvement is in that class of coolers adapted for cooling beer on tap, and in which the beer is passed from the barrel or keg through a draft-chamber cooled by an ice-receptacle, which forms one of the walls of said chamber.

The object of my improvement is to render the cleaning of said chamber and the walls thereof a matter of ready work.

In apparatus of this kind the cooling draftchamber receives from every tap more or less deposit, and particularly do the walls collect more or less gummy or mucilaginous matter, and it is therefore important that the construction of the cooling device should admit of easy separation for cleaning of the draft-chamber.

To this end I make the cooler proper removable from its non-conductin g packing-box by having the draft-faucet detachably connected with a chamber-union, to allow the cooler to be lifted out bodily, and I unite the chamber-forming basins by a clamping driptube at the bottom and a clamping-joint at the top, the clamping of the drip-tube being efi'ected by a thumb-nut, which also seals the bottom joint, thus allowing the two basins to be separated, cleaned, and readily put together without removing the tap-union or the venteocks from their connection with the inner basin, as they are arranged in the flange thereof and made removable with said inner basin.

In the drawing my improved apparatus is shown in section,with its inclosing-box and the tap-connection with the barrel.

The form of the cooler is hemispherical, and the cooling chamber G is of corresponding form. It consists of two metallic basins-an inner one, E, which forms the receptacle for the ice, and an outer one, F, forming the coolin g-chamber between them. These two basins are secured together by a central bottomclamping tube, H, which also forms the driptube, and a top-clamping joint, formed by a flange, b, of the inner basin, screwed upon a flange of the surrounding basin by screws 7:. the said bottom-clamping tube being secured and clamped hard upon the packing of the inner basin by meansbf an outside thumb-nut, h, upon the tube screwing against the under side of the outside basin. By this action of the clamp-nut the flange g of said tube is drawn down upon a packing, and seals the joint between the tube and inner basin, while the clamp-nut, with its packing, seals the joint between said tube and the outer basin. The drip-tube, therefore, while allowing the escape of the dripping from the ice,serves also to seal the two bottom joints, to draw the two basins together upon the top-flange packing, and to release the clamping action of the driptube to allow of the separation of the basins. To efiect this the draft-faucet K is detachably connected to a union, K, from the outer basin, so that the united basins can be lifted out of the packing-box G, which is filled with fine charcoal.

The flange b has a pipe, (I, which connects with the faucet 0 of the keg or barrel by a union, d, and a cock, 6, while the vent-cock f is also placed in said flange b, and these two cocks are removable with the inner basin.

The cock 0 is kept open when in connection with the barrel, but is closed when the barrel is emptied, and it then serves to keep the gas in the chamber and allow the beer to be drawn therefrom. The vent-cock f is opened while the chamber G is being filled, and also serves as an air-vent to the chamber when the barrel is empty, in which case it is opened with the draft-cock K in drawing beer. 7

An air-vent pipe, L, connecting with the draft-faucet, may be used, as shown; or a vent in the keg will answer.

The basinsimay be made of any suitable ma terial, and may have any desired capacity.

The clamping at the top and at the bottom renders the joints gas-tight, and, in connection with the faucet-union 27, allows the chambered device to be taken out of the box, separated, cleaned, and put together.

The barrel or kegArests upon skids a upon a suitable frame, B, the plane of which is preferably upon a level with the top of the box which incloses the chambered cooler.

I do not claim any of the parts separately considered; but the construction by which the chamber-forming basins are clamped together, sealed, and rendered separable for cleansing said chamber is important in the use of such a device, and it is the specific construction by which this advantage is obtained which forms the subject-matter of my improvement.

I claimunion z', said basins being adapted for removal,

separation, and cleansing of the chamber G, all as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM KLINEFELTER.

WVitnesses:

O. VAN DYNE, FRANK KESSLER. 

